Big Time Love Hate Story
by raenbc
Summary: Big Time Rush.  A story about the Big Time Rush group's love/hate relationships... with themselves and each other.  Kendall/Jo James/OC Carlos/OC OC/Logan/Camille PLEASE READ & REVIEW!
1. In Medias Res & Big Time Beginnings

**My first Big Time Rush FanFic! When I wrote this chapter, I had only seen about five episodes. I'm addicted to it now, but I don't know the characters very well, so if you guys could help me along with that as the story goes that would be a great help. I DO NOT OWN BIG TIME RUSH**

**Just so you know, the first scene starts in the middle (In Medias Res means "In the middle of things" in Latin), and in the next scene, the story "rewinds" to the beginning. **

Originally started: 10/23/10

Big Time Love/Hate Story

Kendall Knight sat right in the middle of a couch that seated five, staring intently at a flat screen TV. He blocked out the noise around him, which wasn't much. Carlos was surprisingly quiet. That was no surprise to Kendall, though, considering recent events. One sound he could hear was the shuffling of nervous feet, and a few short breaths, coming from James. Two habits he'd picked up, almost out of nowhere. Kendall had a feeling there was a reason behind that too, but he couldn't focus on those things.

He, like the ten others in the room, was only interested in on thing at the moment: what they were watching on TV.

Over 300 eyes were glued on Jo Taylor as well. Those 300 or so were part of the studio audience for a talk show, which had just come back from commercial break. Kendall couldn't imagine how many other people were watching at home, tuning in just to hear what the actress (who also happened to be his girlfriend) had to say.

The interviewer had forgotten all about the questions typed out on the cue cards. The next (and last) question for Jo wasn't the question on everyone's mind since the interviewer wasn't a mind reader. To everyone watching, the question seemed to come out of thin air.

"Jo, can you tell us… what's the hardest thing about being an actress?" The question caught everyone of guard, but even though the camera only focused on Jo's face for a quick second, Kendall could tell it affected her the most.

By the way her face went pale. By the way she averted her eyes.

Kendall saw that Jo was speechless. She seemed physically hurt by the question, which crushed him. Kendall looked around the room nervously. He wanted to help Jo somehow, comfort her, but he knew he wouldn't be able to, even if he was in the studio audience.

Kendall looked at his band mates and saw their confused, surprised eyes point down at the floor as their mouths formed frowns. He heard his mother and sister gasp in unison. When he turned back to the television screen, he knew why.

A single tear rolled down Jo's cheek as she answered the question in total honesty. "For me, the hardest thing about being an actress is… remembering to drop the act…"

* * *

Gustavo Rocque stopped the recording for the fifth time that Saturday afternoon, but for him it felt like the fortieth. For him, he just felt like screaming. No shock there. Anyone who knew the music producer knew he had a short fuse. On this particular day, people could hear him yelling within a 49-mile radius of Rocque Records.

"JAMES! You're not even singing the right _tune_!" Normally, that would never happen. Even though he was only seventeen, and was a little full of himself, James always strived for perfection. This time, he had an excuse. Subconsciously, he had been singing the same tune all day long. He couldn't help it. It was stuck in his head, but he had no one to blame for that. James never got a chance to see the girl's face, all he knew was that she had the voice of an angel.

James gave a sad nod in response to Gustavo's little rant, but no one seemed to notice. Not even Gustavo's assistant, Kelly, who was desperately trying to keep herself from going into a laughing fit. She pressed the intercom so she could talk to James. "Correct me if I'm wrong here James, but, were you singing to the tone of the Dawson's Creek theme song?" Hearing this, James watched his band mates turn to him, awaiting the answer as well, along with Gustavo.

"Yes." James answered reluctantly, fully expecting the chorus of laughter he got in response. The laughter was interrupted, however, by the sound of clicking heels approaching. The band looked up to see a girl their age standing there, behind Gustavo and Kelly.

Then she started talking, without introduction. "Hey, Ms. Wainwright." Hearing that brought a sort of Mona Lisa smile to Kelly's face. "Hey, how did everything go?" The girl gave a shrug, but smiled. "I'm in." She told her.

"See?" Kelly said. "I told you not to worry." "I guess I owe it all to you, then." Kelly shrugged that off. "Thanks for the advice." "No problem."

"Oh." The girl said, remembering something. "One more thing." She pointed right at James before she spoke again. He expected for her to ask for a date with him, or at least a picture. Instead, the girl said: "I saw Mop-top over there drop his comb outside."

"Ahh!" James bolted from the recording booth, but stopped abruptly when he reached the girl, realizing something. "Wait a second, you _saw _me drop it?" "Yep, got a big ol' eyeful. What's your point Drastic Plastic?"

"_Drastic Plastic_?" James echoed. "What does that mean?" The girl put a strand of her chestnut brown hair behind her ear before she answered. "Well, if you care so much to know than I guess you really _don't_ have a point, now do you?" She asked him, talking at top speed.

"I _do _have a point." James said, feeling annoyed with this girl. A total stranger making fun of _him_, calling him names that didn't even make sense. His annoyance made him repeat himself, so he could really try to get his point across. That point? "I have a point."

The girl didn't seem convinced and she talked through her teeth. "Well, then, _what is it_?"

"You _saw _me and you didn't say anything?" "I had better things to do." She replied, scoffing. "Oh." James said sarcastically, looking right into her wolf hazel eyes, which were rolling. "You had _better things to do_, so you _stole _my luck comb?"

The girl laughed harshly as she took the comb out of her pocket, mumbling: "Must not be so _lucky _if it got stuck with you for it's owner."

James was about to thank her, but he couldn't because she shoved the comb right in his mouth. "Something's gotta shut you up." She said. Then she turned on her heel and walked out.

James pulled the comb out of his mouth, wondering why the others hadn't laughed at him again.

"_Ms. Wainwright_?" Kendall said, quoting the stranger. "What's up with that?" "Who's that girl?" Logan asked, voicing everyone's confusion. Carlos said nothing, but he wanted to know the answers to those questions. All eyes were on Kelly.

She sighed, but answered, right away. "Her name's Falina Florence and she asked me for advice about a audition." She was going to explain to the boys that Falina was a big fan of theirs, which is how she knew who Kelly was, but that was hard to believe by the way she talked to James. Plus, Carlos interrupted her.

"What kind of audition? What is she? A singer? An actress?"

"Falina says that's a secret, but trust me, you'll find out soon enough."

"Yeah, enough about that." Gustavo said, looking up at the boys. "One of you has work to do… now." "We're not even done with the song." James argued. "And whose fault is that?" Gustavo asked harshly. "Maybe I should make you deliver this." He held up one of their CDs, and explained: "Some rich snob wants this hand delivered, apparently she's got that kind of money."

"I don't know if I can face somebody who sounds more self-absorbed than I am." James told Gustavo, practically insulting himself. "I'll do it." Carlos offered, sounding more than happy to do so. He walked out of the recording booth and stood beside James. Gustavo tossed him the CD and he caught it between two fingers. "How did you do that?" James asked, sounding as amazed as everyone else looked. "I don't know." Carlos answered, looking at the girl's address, which was stuck to the top of the CD case.

"I can't walk there it would take me all day." "Flip it over." Kelly instructed. Carlos found $40 taped to the back of the CD. "Call yourself a cab." Gustavo ordered. With that, Carlos was gone, headed over to Rich Snob's house.

"Well, as long as we're not gonna work on the song anymore today—" "Actually we should be calling you guys back here when Carlos is done delivering that CD." Kelly accidentally interrupted James.

"Meanwhile I'm gonna go find that girl and ask her if she was dropped on her head as a baby… twice." He walked out after that. "That was mean." Kendall said, once James was gone. "He seems really mad." Logan added. "What do you think he's gonna do, _plot revenge _just because somebody doesn't like him?"

Logan chuckled. "That would be really immature." "James does let things go to his head." "Hey, Kendall." Kelly said over the intercom. He looked up. "Don't you have somewhere to be right now?" He didn't seem to recall that, judging by the look on his face. "Isn't a certain _show _being filmed right now?" That's when it hit him. "Gotta go." Kendall said. "Bye everybody."

"Bye." The three others said at once watching him run out the front door. Kelly waited a few seconds before she spoke. "So, who's hungry?" "Me." Gustavo answered right away. Logan didn't respond, but he sure looked hungry. Kelly smiled as both her and Gustavo got up from their chairs. "C'mon Logan, let's go to lunch."

* * *

20 minutes later, Carlos's cab pulled up to a mansion gate. He was speechless, seeing that it was at least three times as big as Gustavo's. The guy at the gate let him in and then happily went on his lunch break. The taxi pulled up right in front of the mansion. Carlos got out, remembering what the man at the front gate had told him: "Just take the elevator up to Maggie's floor."

Once he was inside the elevator, Carlos had a thought. Since no one else was around, he thought out loud. "How am I supposed to know which one is Maggie's floor?" He looked at the buttons on the side of the door, form bottom to top. The first one was 'B', for basement he guessed. 'KO' was the next one, after 'G' for ground. The only thing he could associate with that was 'knock out', which didn't make much sense. The next two buttons were 'R' and 'S'. Then he saw it, 'M' for Maggie, and understood why the mansion had an elevator. It could get tiring, climbing 3 flights of stairs.

Carlos pushed the 'M' button. The elevator went up only one floor before the door opened. Someone walked in, but Carlos couldn't see their face because of all the boxes they were carrying. There was plenty more room in the elevator, so she put it all down, but it took awhile. "Hey." She said. From her tone of voice, Carlos could tell three things: She was straining to carry all that stuff, she didn't want any help, and she had no idea who she was talking to, she was just being polite.

"What's up?" Carlos asked. "Oh! Not me." She answered, dropping everything before her knees gave out. "You okay?" He asked her. "Yeah." She said, turning to look at him. It took her a few seconds to notice the CD in his hand, and realize he was there to deliver it.

"And I'm guessing that's for me?" Carlos paused before he answered, to look the girl up and down. She looked like such a nice girl. Bright green eyes looking intently at him, as if she was going to listen and absorb every word he said, even though he hadn't spoken. Dirty blonde hair that framed her face. Her skin, which was a little on the tan side.

He realized that she was still waiting patiently for him to speak, and he was basically just staring at her, trying to figure out how she fell into the category of 'rich snob'. "You must be Maggie." But she couldn't be the one who made him drive across town to—

"I can't believe my parents made you come all the way over here. I'm so sorry." She interrupted his thoughts, with an explanation. "It's no problem." Carlos told Maggie, handing her the CD. When she went to take it, she noticed why the elevator door hadn't closed yet. One of the many boxes, the smallest one, was in the way.

Maggie took the CD after she moved the box out of the door's way. "Thanks." As they moved up another floor, he quickly signed an autograph. "Wow, thank you." She said, stunned. She wasn't expecting that, just like he didn't expect him to point to her phone and ask: "Does that have a camera?" Maggie nodded and put it out in front of them, smiling along with Carlos as she snapped a picture. Right when the flash went off, they heard a loud *clunck*.

Maggie yelped, since she didn't want to scream in Carlos's ear. A few of the boxes fell over, and she dropped her phone. As she slowly inched over to pick it up, Carlos asked: "We're stuck in here, arent we?" "Well, I don't want to lie to you, so… yes." She answered, inching back over towards him while mumbling. "I've lived her all my life and that's never happened."

Carlos watched Maggie's awkward little two-step. "You're not… claustrophobic, are you?" She looked at him with shifty eyes. "No, of course not." She said quickly. Then she started breathing like she was gasping for air, and she watched his eyes go wide. "Relax, I'm just messing with you." She said with a smile, but she sounded apologetic.

Carlos laughed, and then a few seconds went by without either of them saying anything. Then Carlos broke the silence. "We're going to be here for awhile, so… what do we do?" Maggie shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. I guess we just… talk." "Okay," Carlos agreed, thinking of a question. "Do you like corn dogs?"

**Thanks for reading, PLEASE REVIEW! If you have any ideas for what Carlos and Maggie talk about and do while they're in the elevator, just let me know. (I have about 10 ideas of my own) If I have any factual errors (for example, I was wondering if I got James's character's age right) in this chapter just let me know. Also, I need some ideas for things to do that are "extra nice" (like calling someone up just to say hi, or getting them presents when it's not a holiday), you'll see why next chapter. Thanks, I'll update soon!**


	2. Big Time Plans

12/5/10

Originally Typed: 11/2/10, 11/8/10, 11/21/10, 11/29/10, 11/30/10, 12/2/10, 12/3/10, & 12/5/10

**Yes, I'm done with another chapter! So happy to upload this! I DO NOT OWN BIG TIME RUSH**

After Jo was done taping _New Town High _for the day, she and Kendall took a walk through Palm Woods Park. "I thought you guys had to record a song today." Jo said to her boyfriend. "We did, but for some reason James kept messing up. He seemed really distracted. Plus, Gustavo made Carlos deliver a CD to some girl's house, so we have to wait for him to get back."

"Why can't she just buy the CD?" Jo asked. Kendall didn't shrug in response, but just by looking at him, Jo could tell he didn't have a clue. "In the meantime," Kendall said, "I was thinking about going to Disneyland." Jo had to stop walking, she was laughing so hard. "What?" Kendall asked innocently. "Right now?" She asked him, once she regained her composure. "No." He replied, smiling. "Oh, I was gonna say… that's really spontaneous." Kendall nodded in agreement, and they resumed walking.

"But would you want to go?" Jo hadn't realized Kendall was asking her out. She had to give her answer some thought. Of course she wanted to spend time with him, but time wasn't something they had a lot of to spend together. Their one minute dates proved that. "Sure, but where are we gonna find the time to do that?" "I guess we'll make time." Kendall replied. Jo knew they both had busy schedules, but she also knew they deserved a break. So, she took his hand in hers and said: "Sounds like a plan."

* * *

"I'm a genius!" Logan looked up at the door as James came bursting through it, a wide smile on his face. Logan didn't bother asking why James thought so, knowing he would find out right that second. "Genius-to-genius, listen to this." "Uh-oh." He'd heard nothing of whatever so-called ingenious idea James had inside his head, all Logan knew was that he didn't want to get dragged into it.

"Falina hates my guts, right?" "Uh, yeah." Logan thought she'd made that pretty obvious, but he was shocked to hear James actually sound happy about it. In fact, Logan was shocked James admitted it at all. "So what if I just… be extra nice to her? How can she hate me then?" James asked. Logan was stunned. He would sooner expect James to plot revenge like Kendall had joked than be nice to her.

How could James be nice to someone who treated him so badly, for absolutely no reason? Logan shrugged it off, thinking that as long as the plan James had wasn't going to hurt anybody, he shouldn't worry. Unless, of course, he was going to be forced to be a part of it. "You don't need help with this plan of yours, do you?" James thought about it, and then Logan heard what he had been dreading.

"_Well_, kinda." Logan sighed. He'd known James for a long time, and 'kinda' was an understatement. Always. But he knew there was no way of getting out of it. "Alright, fine." Logan said. "How can I help you?" Realizing he sounded like some guy taking orders at a fast food restaurant, he laughed at himself. He didn't know he'd be laughing twice as hard on the inside after hearing what James was about to say. "I need you to be my… kindness coach." What was that supposed to mean? James didn't know how to be nice? "Why?" Logan asked, still trying not to laugh. "'Cause Kendall's not here."

Logan lowered his eyebrows. "I'm your 'substitute kindness coach'?" "Yeah, exactly." James replied. "Now I know why you need one." Logan mumbled, annoyed. "What was nice about that?" "Sorry." James said. "Now just tell me what to do." He went from sounding overly excited to totally desperate in just a few seconds, which made Logan wonder: "Why are you doing this again?" "Because, Falina can't say she doesn't like me if she doesn't even know me, but by being extra nice to her, I'll give her a reason to want to know me." A thought crossed Logan's mind. Maybe Falina was just stressed over her audition, even if it did go well. She needed someone to take it out on. James became her victim because of his lucky comb. Logan didn't say what he was thinking, though. He surprised himself by what he said next.

"You like her, don't you?" "It wouldn't surprise him if James said yes. What girl didn't James like? What surprised Logan was that James avoided the question all together, but he clearly heard it because his eyes widened so much it hurt before he said: "I'm hungry." and ran to the refrigerator. Logan raised his eyebrows, but didn't question anything. Even when James practically shoved his head into the fridge so he couldn't see him blushing.

* * *

Maggie looked at her phone, but it was dead. There was no way she could call anyone, or even check the time. If she did check the time, it wouldn't be to see how long she and Carlos had been stuck in the elevator together. It would be to see how long Carlos had been laughing at her because she had never eaten a corn dog before. "I'm sorry." Carlos said, under laughs. It's just… you're really missing out." Maggie had been told that. Many times. She was used to being laughed at too. "I know I am." She admitted. Carlos stopped laughing abruptly when Maggie turned to him, to explain herself.

"I'm not allowed to eat corn dogs." Hearing that, Carlos felt like laughing again. Not because he thought that was funny too. He just didn't understand. "What?" Maggie sighed, because she knew how stupid she sounded before she even spoke. "Corn dogs don't exactly fall under the category of 'rich food'. Maggie read Carlos to be a talkative person, but since she got no response after that statement, she figured she confused him even more. She tried to rephrase herself. "At least, that's what my dad would say. My mom's answer would be 'Corn dogs are not a part of her diet.'" She went on, intentionally imitating her mother's voice.

"What's your answer?" Carlos asked. That was what he asked for in the first place. Since he had just found out that Maggie's parents controlled her diet, he couldn't help but wonder if they controlled her mouth too. "If I ever had the chance to eat a corn dog, I would hope I could say that it tastes like heaven." Maggie told him, with a hopeful smile on her face. Part of her wished he would pull a corn dog out of his pocket right that second. Carlos was kind of wishing that too. Even though that would be gross, they couldn't care. They were hungry already, even though they had only been trapped in the elevator for fifteen minutes. Of course, this day out of all days, the day the feel especially hungry. Carlos tried not to think about it, as Maggie began to jog in place. He thought maybe his hunger was making him imagine things. "What are you doing?" He asked when he figured out it wasn't all in his head, on the verge of laughing again. "Aerobics." She answered, as if there was nothing out of the ordinary about it." He turned to listen to her as she talked. "I always do them after school and before work. Even playing by myself, hockey really busts me up sometimes. Probably because I'm so clumsy. Plus, I made the mistake of playing with no pads recently. Never doing _that _again." She said laughing, even though she still felt sore. Carlos blinked. "You play hockey?" His eyes practically lit up when he asked her that.

Maggie was surprised to learn that he was surprised, and her tone gave that away. "Yeah, my dad taught me. I love all sports." "That's so cool." Carlos said with a smile. Maggie wanted to that him, but she didn't know how to phrase it. She wasn't used to getting compliments. After some thought, she went with saying: "Thanks, so are you." Making Carlos laugh. Maggie got tired of facing the door and started turning in circles as she jogged. Carlos smiled, thinking she really knew how to make a first impression on someone. He couldn't help but ask her something, though. "You won't get dizzy doing that, will you?" "I hope not." She replied, laughing at herself. With that, he couldn't help saying what he did next. "You make me nervous." He didn't even know he got nervous.

Maggie froze where she stood, facing Carlos. She still had one foot up in the air and put it down slowly, taking a good look at him. "Good." She said honestly. "You make me nervous too." To cove up an awkward moment of silence, she quickly added: "But you should be used to making people nervous. You _are_ a celebrity."

She turned away from Carlos for a second and took a deep breath. In her head, she backtracked to her last few sentences, and disected them. Maggie knew she always spoke her mind, and never worried about sugar-coating what she said. She wondered what she was trying to hide, and why, for the first time in her life, she hadn't said exactly what she meant.

Carlos could see in her facial expression that she was stressing herself out. So, instead of responding to what Maggie said, he changed the subject. "What's in all those boxes?" "Well, the three big boxes are full of clothes." She answered, watching Carlos's eyes go wide in reaction.

Not like she wasn't expecting that. "Yeah, we buy _everything_ in bulk. There's a mall not far from the restaurant where I work, so I brought clothes and stuff for my brother, my sister, and myself." Even though there was no one else around to hear, she lowered her tone to a whisper before she added: "Most of it's Christmas presents."

Carlos laughed, and then he really thought about what Maggie told him. "Wait. You buy Christmas presents for yourself?" He got a laugh back in reply. "No, it's just that I'm really shy, so I thought I would try to reinvent myself. I bought all new clothes and I'm gonna clean out my whole closet and donate all the clothes to charity." "_Nice_." Carlos commented. Maggie wasn't sure if he meant the part about reinventing herself being nice or the charity. She hoped he meant both. She didn't have time to ponder that though, when she realized she was caught in a lie. Not that Carlos would know that.

What Maggie had told Carlos was a half lie, to be accurate. She did want to reinvent herself, but not because she was shy. Maggie didn't like her style. She didn't like that she had no friends.

But she couldn't tell him that. She didn't even like knowing it herself. That was the kind of thing that made her unable to speak her mind. It was also what made her realize why she wanted to reinvent herself. For once, Maggie was glad that she wasn't able to speak her mind. She didn't want to speak her mind. She didn't want to her how Carlos would react if she told him she was lost.

* * *

Logan and James had no trouble staying away from Rocque Records later that day, knowing what to expect if they were there. Carlos still wasn't back from the CD, and it had been almost two hours since he left. When Kelly called his phone, only to find it in the recording booth. Gustavo threw a fit.

The boys were too focused on their game of dome hockey to hear the conversation going on right outside their door, even though the people talking were totally oblivious to the volume of their voices. One of them was, anyway. In all honestly, the other one just didn't care who heard.

"This is ridiculous!" A raven-haired women yelled angrily. Her dark brow eyes glaring at her 'boss'. "Nothing is ridiculous when you're desperate." He argued. The comment earned him a look. A look that told him she was so mad she wanted to slap his glasses right off his face. "You really should listen to yourself next time you talk." She advised him. "You'd be amazed at how stupid you sound."

"My ideas aren't that terrible." He replied. "I thought this one was pretty good, actually." He admitted. The woman rolled her eyes in response. "Oh yeah? What made you think that?" She asked. "If you think about it, it's logical. We're short a lead role and the Palm Woods is the home of the future famous. It just so happens that today most of the future famous are too busy with other things to be a part of our movie." He was trying to look on the bright side. She was trying to be realistic. "When people want to be in a movie, they _audition_ for the movie. Nobody expects the director and producer to come to them. " She said, throwing her hands up in frustration. "Well, then we should be a pleasant surprise." He told her, knocking on the door.

"Be serious for once." She said. "You can't pick a lead actor solely based on looks." The door opened, and James was standing at it. "Never mind." She said, almost dreamily, earning herself a playful shove in reply. "You're such a girl." The man turned to James and continued talking, sounding enthusiastic. "Hello. My name is Sid Cliff—" He was interrupted by howling laughter, coming from Ava, the producer. Even James gave her a look, but his was in confusion. Not annoyance, like Sid's. "I'm sorry." She told the both of them. "It's just, how can you _not_ laugh at a name like that?" Sid rolled his eyes and told James simply: "Anyway, we're working on a movie. I'm directing, she's producing. What do you say?"

"Are you serious?" Logan asked, making James jump when he popped up out of nowhere. He'd basically been hiding behind the door the whole time, eavesdropping. That confused James more than Ava's random laughter had. "He didn't even audition." "See?" Ava said to Sid. "This guy's got some sense. Why not take him instead?" "I thought we were picking our actor for his looks." Sid said, crossing his arms. Logan mimicked the man's stance, insulted. "What are you trying to say?" "Don't worry kid, you're a stud muffin too." Ava assured him." "You know," Sid said, turning to Ava. "You might earn yourself a bad reputation with all that 'stud muffin' stuff. People will start calling you the Cougar Producer." Ava scoffed. "Oh, please. I just like to pay people complements and I didn't happen to notice what wither of them are wearing. So I might as well say they have a nice fice, 'cause it's true." "I think _they're_ the entertainment." Logan whispered to James, making him chuckle, while the director and producer went on arguing. Finally, Ava looked at Logan, and asked. "Are you in or out?"

"In." He answered, without hesitation. James shot him a look. "What about me?" He asked, since he felt robbed of his role, though they hadn't even found out what that was. "I need money." Logan replied innocently. Sid and Ava were right back to arguing over nothing, so they couldn't celebrate. Plus, there was something they forgot to mention. "One more thing." Sid said, looking in James's direction. He thought about the first time he heard someone say those that afternoon words and how he could still taste comb. "Ava made a promise to a friend of hers—" "Who's a huge fan of Big Time Rush." She interrupted. The boys couldn't help but smile when they heard that. Ava continued on. "So, it would be great if all of you could come to the lot on the first day of filming and meet her. Wait until she founds out a member of her favorite band's going to be in our movie." "She'll be acting crazing than usual." Sid said. All four of them laughed. "Yeah, you're laughing now." Sid said, raising his eyebrows, before handing Logan the script.

Almost on cue, Logan's laughter stopped. Even after Sid and Ava walked away, James still questioned why that happened. He could tell by Logan's expression that something was wrong, but no matter what, Logan wouldn't say what that was.

* * *

"So, in the end, we decided it was a tie." Maggie smiled. Carlos was the first person to be honest with her when she said: "Tell me your life story." He thought she was barely interested, since she hadn't commented on anything since he started talking. He was wrong.

"Wow, Carlos." She said, shaking her head. "After all you just told me, I only have one thing to say to you." "What?" He asked, sounding almost afraid to hear her answer. "I AM SO JEALOUS OF YOU!" She admitted, making him laugh. "Why?" "Why?" She echoed in disbelief. "_Why_? Because, not only did you have a prank war of epic proportions, you got to be a ghost hunter and use those awesome night vision cameras. You got to makeover your apartment and put in a swirly slide. You got to play Robin Hood which doesn't surprise me because I think of you as a hero. You defeated a rouge coffee maker, like I said… hero." Her eyes, which were wide in amusement, sparkled as she continued. "You house-sat a mansion with a fridge _full_ of _pudding_. You got to perform on live TV and you met _JORDIN SPARKS_ for crying out loud!"

Smiling bright as she said her last sentence, Maggie grabbed Carlos by the shoulders and shook him. Instead of being startled by that, Carlos just smiled. "So, what's your life story?" He asked her, as she calmed down. Maggie couldn't help but laugh when he asked her that question. "Next to you, I have no life story."

"Oh, c'mon, don't talk like that." Carlos said. He didn't understand how her life could be boring, to prove that, he said: "You live in a mansion that's five stories high." "Six stories if you count the basement." Maggie clarified. Getting tired, she sat down on the elevator floor as she went on talking. Her tone turned sad, and before she knew it she wasn't just talking, she was venting. "Having my own floor is like living in my own world. And I hate it. It's so lonely with no one to share it with. My family's so distant." Carlos tried to think of something comforting to say, but Maggie was already off on another thought. "You know, sometimes I get so bored I start counting the dots in the ceiling." She told him, pointing up to show him what she was talking about. Carlos looked up to see what looked like a million little specks of color in each of the ceiling tiles. Then, he sat down so he could help her count.

They kept the counting in their heads, so it wouldn't confuse each other. They tried to point at each dot with the pointer fingers on one hand, his left and her right, to keep track of what they already counted. Carlos soon found out that Maggie had been right. Even if he didn't want to admit it, her own little world was lonely and boring. His thought was interrupted when their hands met in the middle. It wasn't their counting hands that overlapped, though. Carlos looked down to see that his right hand and her left hand had accidentally touched. He tried to ignore the feeling he had, because it was somewhere between that of drowning and flying. He looked up slowly, only to have his eyes met by Maggie's.

Maggie wanted to apologize, but she was speechless. She could tell that Carlos was speechless too, because all he did was stare back at her.

Thoughts were running through her head frantically, but all she knew was that she had to come up with her life story quickly. That way, even when they got out of the elevator, Carlos would stick around to hear the rest…

**Thanks for reading, PLEASE REVIEW. I only got one for the first chapter. I'm hoping for at least eight for this one, since that's how many pages it was. Next chapter Carlos and Maggie will get out of the elevator. If things go as I'm planning now, you'll find out what going on with Logan. Also, I'm going to try and make sure Camille, Ms. Knight, and Katie make it into the next chapter too. Any ideas, things you wanna see? Just let me know. By the way, it _is_ called 'dome hockey', right? I wasn't sure about that one. Thanks again!**


	3. Big Time Goodbye

**I DO NOT OWN BIG TIME RUSH. Or _Life_**

"So…" Maggie began, after another awkward moment spent in silence. Then, before she finished the sentence, she got up, went over to a medium-sized box, opened it up, took something out, and turned back to Carlos. "Wanna play _Life_?" She said, holding out the board game box to him. "I bought it 'cause my family _really _needs to get one." Carlos was in stitches as he took the box from her and began setting up the game. He only laughed because he knew Maggie was joking. He could tell that she loved her family, no matter how distant they were, from the stories she told him. He loved hearing the stories about her family, but he still hadn't heard _her _life story. As she helped Carlos set up the game, she wondered why she was keeping that story bottled up inside.

That's when Maggie realized that not only had no one ever told her their life story, she had never told anyone her's either.

But it didn't take long for Maggie to go from a hesitant start, to practically pouring her heart out.

"The day I was born, the weather forecast called for snow the whole day. My family was vacationing in Pennsylvania at the time. Even though my brother and sister were only two then, they were more excited for the snow than they were about me. It didn't start snowing until after I was born, though. My mom says that's because we all were celebrating, and the snowflakes were the sky's confetti." Carlos gave Maggie a genuine smile hearing that.

She smiled back and continued on with her story. "Ever since the day I was born I loved snow, but the only time I get to see it is at Christmastime. That's one of the reasons I love the holidays so much. Snow is always the best present. Well, that and being with my family. And getting to chop down our own Christmas tree. Plus we trade the sunshine as palm trees—" Maggie stopped herself. "I'm rambling, aren't I?" She asked Carlos.

He looked at her, telling her with his eyes that it didn't matter. He loved her story, even if she did go off on a tangent, because it was hers. She should be able to tell it however she wanted. Maggie smiled brightly, realizing that Carlos was letting her do what she couldn't help doing, but her life sometimes prevented her from doing. She wasn't just speaking her mind. Her life story was usually one she kept locked inside her heart.

Maggie couldn't help but wonder who gave Carlos the key as she got back to telling her story. "Basically what I'm saying is the weather is like summer all the time here, and spending Christmas in Pennsylvania with the snow is a nice change. We vacation there all the time and it's where my family has always celebrated Christmas. I wouldn't miss it for anything." She told Carlos dreamily, wallowing in the memories of Christmases before.

While absent-mindedly playing with the cuff of her blouse, Maggie reminded herself of something, and went on to a different point in the story all together. "I was home schooled up until high school, but even now I don't go to the same school as my siblings do. They've been in the same school all their lives, but now I'm stuck in private school, which explains the uniform. And I went in for extra help today, which explains why I'm wearing it on a Saturday."

"Stuck?" Carlos repeated, noticing her facial expression was a mix of annoyance and sadness. "Yeah, apparently I'm really smart or something, but I _hate _school. It's so lonely and boring. Maggie was tired of talking about her life like that, and Carlos was feeling more and more sorry for her every time she did. That quickly changed when she exclaimed: "_I had a baby_!" For a second, Carlos was caught off guard. Then he remembered what game he was playing and replied with a happy: "Congratulations!" Making himself and Maggie laugh.

"I shouldn't say school's all bad." Maggie admitted, after getting her excitement over her imaginary child under control. "I love learning. You know how they say 'you learn something new every day'? I agree with that. My dad taught me how to play sports so I would get my exercise every day. My mom thought it would be like torture for me, but I ended up loving it. It was always fun beating my brother my brother at any sport he was willing to compete against me in. This worried my mom though, so when I was nine, she introduced me to piano, to keep me well-rounded."

"And what happened?" Carlos asked, admitting to himself that he would have guessed that Maggie played piano way before he guessed she played hockey.

Maggie chuckled to herself. "I fell in love all over again. I bet you know what that feels like. Music is the absolute last place you'd ever picture yourself and then, suddenly, it just bursts out of you, and you can't remember why you ever held it back in the first place. Suddenly you know you're gonna be something, and you want to inspire people. It's like—"

"I'm not trying to be rude," Carlos interrupted, "but I'm bored." Maggie felt her throat getting dry, and her eyes getting wet. It was only when she looked up that she noticed Carlos looked as taken aback as she was. Even though she couldn't say so, she didn't understand. Carlos was shocked by his own words, and quickly added: "I'm kidding, girlfriend." Too quickly. Way too quickly.

"Did I just say 'I'm kidding, girlfriend'?" He asked, his sadness melting away when his embarrassment took over. Maggie didn't answer him, because she was too busy laughing so hard she almost cried.

She wiped her eyes and sat up again, since she'd fallen over because of her giggle fit, and spoke: "The only interesting thing I've done lately is tell my mom to get a job." "_What_?" Carlos asked, under laughs, pretty sure he'd misheard her. Maggie laughed at herself when she realized how she'd phrased that. "What I mean is she wanted to run her own business, and I suggested what she should do. She runs a modeling agency and magazine now." She said, putting her hands on her hips proudly." What does your dad do?" Carlos asked, wondering what job could lead to owning a five-story mansion. "He's an entrepreneur. He sells his inventions and household appliances." Maggie replied as she took her last turn and reached the mansion. It was not a satisfying victory, and she heaved a sigh thinking about how she was already in a mansion, and still not satisfied. She wanted to make something of herself. Live her dreams.

"Wanna play again?" Carlos asked, giving her a smile since she'd won. Maggie shook her head. "That's okay." Carlos seemed saddened by this. "So, that's it?" He asked, disappointed. "We're done with the game and you're done with your story?" Maggie thought about it as she put _Life _back in the box, and then a grin formed on her face. "Well, the story's not over yet." She told him, picking up the smallest box of them all. The one that had blocked the doorway to the elevator when they first met that afternoon.

"Guess what's in this box?" She asked Carlos eagerly, hurrying back over to him. "I know it's not a corn dog, because we would've torn into it way before now if it was." Maggie laughed. She couldn't believe she and Carlos had only known each other for a few hours and they already had inside jokes.

"Aside from the clothes, I bout a little something for myself. I told my family that what I want from each of them for Christmas is a charm, to put on this bracelet." "Why charms?" Carlos asked, just curious. Maggie shrugged. "I don't know. I think they're symbolic." She told him, opening the box from the top. "I want to find out how my parents and siblings see me, you know? If I'm a good person."

For Carlos, that wasn't even a question. Of course Maggie was a good person. He'd spent hours talking with her, and he knew that for a fact. As she pushed the box toward him so he could see the bracelet, Carlos thought about how he saw her. She was sweet, funny, screaming—screaming?

Carlos shook himself from his thought, and saw that the lights had gone off. And he felt Maggie's hands clinging to his as if the darkness would drag her away if she didn't hold on for dear life.

But then, she let go. "Sorry." She said. "In case it wasn't completely obvious, I'm afraid of the dark."

"It's okay." Carlos answered. Since his tone implied that he hadn't been bothered, Maggie thought he was talking about her little panic attack. She was surprised but relieved by that. Only Carlos had more to say. In an effort to comfort her and calm her down, Carlos pulled Maggie into a hug. "It's gonna be alright." He said. "I'll protect you."

Maggie had no doubt that he would. She knew that the dark couldn't hurt her, and she really had no reason to be afraid. What Carlos meant was that he would never let anything bad happen to her. No one outside her family had ever told her that, which is why it took Maggie awhile to hug Carlos back.

Once she did, she felt happy again. She knew she was safe.

* * *

"Mom, sit down. And put down the phone already." Katie was tired of watching her mother pace the floor, while holding the phone in a death grip. Mrs. Knight couldn't help it. She was so worried she couldn't think straight. And the apartment was an absolute mess. She couldn't stop walking in circles, and found herself listing all the things that could've happened to Carlos, each scenario phrased as a "what if" question. Frustrated, Katie looked at her brother, waiting for him to say something to calm their mother down. Before he got the chance, Gustavo—who was only there because 'it was his idea to have Carlos deliver the CD'—spoke.

"Relax. He'll be fine." "_Relax_?" Mrs. Knight repeated, practically shoving the word back down his throat. "_Relax_? _What do you mean 'RELAX_'?" Everyone else in the room jumped. Mrs. Knight was scarier than Gustavo at his worst. He tried not to seem fazed, though, and said: "Maybe he got stuck in an elevator." While Mrs. Knight ignored the statement completely and went back to freaking out, Katie asked: "They have an elevator in their _house_?" "As a matter of fact, they do." Mrs. Knight finally stopped pacing, and Gustavo, Katie and the boys turned around, to see Mr. Bitters coming through the open door. "And apparently Carlos has been trapped in it for eleven hours." "_No kidding_!" Mrs. Knight yelled sarcastically, almost switching back into full freak-out mode. While Mr. Bitters was annoyed by this, since she practically blew out his eardrums, he didn't say so. Instead, he said: "_But_ the fire department just got there, so… quit worrying." He said, directing his gaze at Mrs. Knight before he walked out with "Goodnight." as his final word.

"Have a Palm Woods night." Katie mocked, summoning Kendall's ridiculous laugh. No one else could help but laugh either. Not even Falina, who appeared in the doorway then. She had a cell phone held to her ear and whispered: "Goodnight, everybody. Love you, bye." Before she closed the phone, she checked the time. "I should've said 'Good Morning'." She practically mumbled. But James overheard, since he was coming to the door to ask her something.

"It's 1:00 AM." She said, but was drowned out when James asked: "Were were you all day… yesterday?" "Why?" She asked him. "Did you miss me?" James blinked, not sure how to answer the question. He'd looked for her up until he came up with his plan to be extra nice to her—and he was sticking to that plan—but he didn't know if his "search" and plan counted as missing her.

"Sure." He answered finally, giving her a good laugh. Falina raised her eyebrows, but didn't know how to respond to that. So, she said: "I came to say Good Morning to you guys, so… Good Morning." "Good Morning." Everyone else chorused back, happily, surprised she stopped by just to say that. "Tell Carlos I said Good morning, okay?" Falina said, as she turned around and walked back down the hallway, her heels clicking the whole way. As she went, James could only wonder one thing: "What's _she _doing up at one in the morning?"

* * *

Richard Mercury ran a pale hand through his red hair. "Well, today was an adventure, huh?" He asked his sister Sarah, who was leaning on the wall opposite the elevator on Maggie's floor, having no idea that the spot would soon tell a story of its own. "We spent most of it searching for out sister when she didn't show up to work, only to find out she was here the whole time, trapped in an elevator with a member of your favorite boy band."

Sarah rolled her eyes angrily. "I'm so jealous, the good stuff _always _happens to Maggie." Richard shook his head. "You're at least happy we found her, right? If it wasn't for her backpack being hung by the door, we might have never known she was here unless we checked the security cameras."

"Yeah." Sarah answered. "Finding Maggie was the highlight of my day. Even though searching for her cut into my tan time. Oh, well." Sarah shrugged. "At least I got to see some cute firemen."

* * *

Maggie's eyes flickered open slowly, and her first instinct was to reach for the alarm clock. She wasn't in her room because she was still trapped in the darkened elevator unknowingly using Carlos's chest as her pillow. Unknowingly up until then, anyway.

"Oh, God!" At her outburst, Carlos woke up with a start. "_What_?" He asked her, sounding on-edge. Unlike her, he knew exactly where he was and wasn't freaking out just because of the "pile" they had found themselves in. He was also freaking out because light poured into the elevator, they were back on the ground floor, and, freakiest of all, they had seven pairs of eyes staring back at them.

* * *

Even though the only place in the Mercury mansion Carlos knew like the back of his hand was the elevator, he had no trouble finding a bathroom. Maggie even ran up the flight of stairs in her heels to use her parents' bathroom. In the meantime, Richard was trying to drag Sarah away from the wall again. "C'mon," He urged. "Mom and Dad are making breakfast for dinner." That was all it took to get her to stop staring after the firemen as they left the house, and go to the kitchen.

By that time, Carlos had gone looking for Maggie, since she had never come down from the second floor. Wondering how she could manage to get lost in her own house, he found himself on her floor. "Did you think I got lost?" He turned around at the sound of her voice, to see her poking her head out of her bedroom door. She walked out of her room to where he was standing in the hallway, in front of the elevator.

"I'm not good at goodbyes." Maggie admitted hesitantly. "We don't have to say goodbye." Carlos replied, but he was only being hopeful. He had a feeling that whatever she was about to tell him was not good news. The look on her face made that obvious.

"But… we do." She said, her eyes locked on his. "My parents don't just plan my diet. They pick my friends."

Carlos blinked, trying his best to comprehend that. He'd always been told that friends were the family he chose. Why didn't Maggie get that choice? She deserved it.

Almost as if she read his mind, Maggie said: "I'm sorry Carlos. I wish it didn't have to end this way. I wish it didn't have to end ay all." Her eyes told him she would throw all her lucky pennies into the well at Palm Woods Park if it meant the two of them could stay friends. She would wish on every star in the sky, and all the dandelions she could find. She would even pluck out all her eyelashes. In that moment, Carlos didn't know what to do. All he knew was that he would do the same.

He would do almost anything to have her in his life. There had to be a reason they'd met, and he wasn't ready to forget about her. He couldn't just let it go.

Neither could Maggie. Which is why she opened up the bracelet box that she was still holding. She cupped the bracelet in her hand and unhooked the clasp. Carlos watched her, full of curiosity and amazement. She locked her gaze on him again as she put the bracelet around his wrist.

"Maggie, you don't h—" She interrupted his wonderstruck stammering with one serious look. "I wanted this to mean something, and now it does." "What am I supposed to give you?" He asked her, the sadness he felt showing in his voice. Maggie put some thought into that question, looking around for inspiration.

But, of, course, the answer wasn't written on the walls. Maggie turned back to see Carlos holding his shirt out to her, and wondered how he got it off so face, since he his striped sweatshirt was back on. She couldn't say what she was thinking, though. Maggie just stared straight in front of her.

"Oh, uh, sorry." She said slowly, blinking herself out of her trance. "I got distracted." Carlos blushed, embarrassed, while Maggie took the shirt from him. She slung it over her shoulder before walking closer to him. They were so close that his sneakers and her bare feet touched. It was then he noticed that Maggie had changed out her school uniform into pink silk pajamas.

"Good Morning." Maggie mumbled her goodbye, as she zipped up Carlos's sweatshirt for him. She only mumbled because she didn't want to say goodbye. Sighing, she gave him a quick hug. But Carlos didn't answer her.

He couldn't answer her, because he was too busy having flashbacks. He saw Maggie's eyes sparkle as he told her his stories. He saw them glaze over with tears as he cracked an excuse for a joke that was only made for his own distraction. Because he had to stop her from talking.

Because Carlos wasn't bored by anything she said. He was mesmerized. And the reason he stumbled over his words and accidentally blurted the word 'girlfriend'? That was just another wish.

Maggie took one last sad look at Carlos and turned to go back to her room. Suddenly, Carlos grabbed her hand and she spun back into his arms.

Carlos cupped her face and kissed her passionately. He eyes widened in surprise, but soon her surprise turned to passion as well, and Maggie wrapped her arms around his neck. Aside from being completely unexpected, the kiss was as close to perfect as either of them could've hoped for, but it was heartbreaking all the same. Because there would always be more to say. And there was no time left to say it. Not even in the one minute they spent kissing goodbye.

**Thanks for reading, please review! Happy Holidays!**


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